Dougherty County looks back at Radium Springs tornado

(RADIUM SPRINGS, GA)- It’s been three years since an EF-3 tornado tore through Southwest Georgia; and more importantly, touched down in Radium Springs, causing widespread destruction.

Dougherty County Commission Chairman, Chris Cohilas tells us, “It’s been a journey. We’ve come from complete devastation to rebuilding. We still have a lot of areas that need improvement. We’ve had to access very complicated solutions and funding for many of the problems we still have.”

Cohilas along with other county officials have been working on the recovery since the days that followed the tornado in January of 2017…

This includes building a memorial to the 5 people who los their lives in the tornado.

“It’s important to both me and the community to make sure we acknowledge the lives that were lost and make sure that we pay them a memorial so we can recognize the importance of the event and grow from it,” says Cohilas.

While three years of recovery has been a lot for the buildings and infrastructure in Radium Springs, Chairman Cohilas says there’s still more recovery efforts that need to be taken care of.

Chairman Cohilas says “There were a lot of problems after the ’94 and ’98 floods that were never addressed in the Radium Springs area. I think this is going to give us an opportunity to try and incentivize investment in the area. To beautify it, and make sure it’s more safe than ever before.”

Dougherty County Public Works says that the Radium Springs memorial is set to be completed in the next couple of months.